


i'm too young to die

by littlestarbigsky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Character Death, Dark, High School, Hurt, Major Character Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Scary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-08
Updated: 2019-05-08
Packaged: 2020-02-28 11:44:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18755803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlestarbigsky/pseuds/littlestarbigsky
Summary: "this wasn't a normal drill because it wasn't a drill at all. i am going to die."more of a heavy story that i wrote because of activity in my area lately.





	i'm too young to die

**Author's Note:**

> hey, all.
> 
> in my area recently, there has been a threat of a school shooting and a school shooting.
> 
> within the past month.
> 
> this is ridiculous.
> 
> i don't know how to express myself so i wrote this.
> 
> disclaimer: i was not in a shooting nor did anybody close to me die in one. but i still feel very strongly about this topic.

“This is a lockdown. Locks, lights, out of sight.”

Children sighed all around my classroom as the familiar drill sounded. We all grumbled and shuffled as we were all shoved into the all too well-known corner in the classroom. As always, I nudged my best friend Keith and stuck out my fingers. It was customary to us at this point to play chopsticks while we waited for the drill to end.

But this time turned out to be different than the others. I was celebrating my victory when we heard it. A gunshot. This was not an ordinary drill because it wasn’t a drill at all. I was going to die.

The classroom went silent, as though we had all become mute. Some kids burst into tears, while others shushed them, terrified. The teacher became stricter, shoving us all closer together and putting herself in front of us so that she could protect us in the case that the shooter chose us as their next target.

At this point the adrenaline finally reached me. I looked at Keith as we both nodded. We had both made escape plans for every classroom since we’d heard about the school shooting a couple of years ago. We decided that there was a better chance of survival if we left the school.

Crazy as that may sound, I promise there is a reason behind it. Most people that would decide to shoot up a school are students. All students in today’s world know that the school is never really empty during a lockdown. All students know where students congregate during the said drill, and they know the procedure.

And I refuse to be a sitting duck, waiting for my turn to be killed at the mercy of a gun.

So I planned. I made a plan for every period, for every waking moment of my time at school. Each year, I would learn where my classes are and make an escape route. I had thought countless times of who I would die for. Who I would willingly be killed for. What I would do if all of my friends were killed at school, the place where I was supposed to be safe.

I would undoubtedly die for Keith.

So I told him. I told him to take as many people as he thought safe and run as far as he could.

At first, he wouldn’t leave without me. But the gunshots were getting closer, and so he took a select few and left, squeezing out the door.

I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding when I saw him escape. Looking around, I shoved students into cabinets and some behind desks, just as Keith and I had planned. I told them to wait. Wait until I look around the corner, make sure it's safe.

I was making a final check when I saw her. A silhouette of a girl. As I crept closer, I recognized her as a girl in my science class. Pidge, that was her name.

“Pidge!” I whisper-yelled as I tried to get her attention. “Didn’t you hear the shots? We have to go! It isn’t safe, please.”

As she turned to face me, I saw it. A gun. Pidge was the shooter. Sweet, quiet Pidge.

A look of terror flashed across her face. “I don’t want to kill you. You were the only person who cared about me all these years. I just wish it was enough. Unfortunately, it wasn’t,”

“Pidge, no. Please, stop. You don’t have to kill.” I tried to plead with her as she raised the gun.

I closed my eyes as I listened to her load more bullets and cock the gun. I heard it fire, heard the all-too-familiar crack. But I didn’t feel pain.

I learned later that it was because she didn’t shoot me. She shot herself.

I yelled as she hit the ground. “Help! Please come help me!”

The halls were silent. Nobody knew who to trust anymore. Nobody was safe. I ran to go get help, but I was stopped by the sound of another gunshot. Breathing hard and panicking, I ran as fast as I could to the nearest exit. I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me before I finally stopped, and pulled out my phone to inform the police.

By the time the other gunman was dead, so were 18 other students and teachers. Some were my friends. One was my best friend. It turns out Keith never made it out of the building that day, just like he will never graduate. I will never get to sit with him at lunch again, never again will I walk home alongside him, cracking jokes and waiting patiently for summer. I’ll never get to tell him I loved him.

I spend every day thinking about him and the other 17 innocent people killed that day. I regret never confessing my feelings, always getting scared every time I was about to tell him. The thing I regret most of all, however, is that I survived while he died.

People keep telling me that they'll pray for my school, for Keith's family, for MY family. 

Why?

Keith is dead. Prayers can not bring him back to life. No prayer can ever erase my memory of going to find Keith only to see his dead body being loaded into an ambulance. No prayer can fix that I had to watch my own classmate shoot herself because she felt there was no hope left for her. Because she felt her only solution was to make a lasting impact before she died.

My name is Takashi Shirogane. I survived a school shooting, and my best friend didn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this is awful and unedited and it probably doesnt make sense but i had to write it.
> 
> i'll probably rewrite so come back if you want to read a better one.
> 
> please leave a comment.
> 
> i love you all so much and im always here to talk.


End file.
